Bidding War Feared as L.A. and Anaheim Woo Clippers Owner

Seemingly contradictory statements by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling as to whether he might move his National Basketball Assn. franchise to Anaheim are stirring fears of a bidding war between interests in Los Angeles and Orange counties to attract the Clippers.

Sterling declared Friday: “The team has a 20-year lease with the Los Angeles Sports Arena, and we have every intention of remaining in Los Angeles.”

But he was also quoted as telling the Orange County Register on Wednesday: “Will I move the team or stay (at the Sports Arena)? Will I go where the franchise gets the best opportunity? Absolutely. I’d just as soon live on Lido Island as Malibu. I like it just as well. . . . One has to go to the facility that provides the greatest opportunity.”

Although Sterling described the Register quotes as only “partly accurate,” he confirmed that the Clippers face a choice, saying: “In fact, the club has received two proposals, one from a group representing Orange County, and one from MCA-Spectacor, which manages the Los Angeles Sports Arena.”

The first, he said, is a $30-million package to induce the Clippers to move to an indoor arena that would be constructed in Anaheim by a partnership of the Nederlander entertainment group and Ogden Foods. The second proposal calls for a $20-million renovation and expansion of the Sports Arena.

L.A. Advantages

Although the Los Angeles offer involves less money, it has the advantage of involving a facility that is already built and where the Clippers already play. No firm decision has been made to build an arena in Anaheim. In addition, cable and other television merchandising opportunities along with prospects for sale of luxury boxes are other important factors to be considered in weighing the two proposals.

As various negotiators extolled the virtues of their conflicting proposals Friday, there were also expressions of concern, some of them private, that Sterling and other Clippers representatives might be using the situation to encourage better bids from both.

“These people use any leverage they have to benefit themselves,” said Anaheim City Councilman Bill Ehrle, who Friday touted Anaheim as “a logical move” for the Clippers. “We have to sort out what is talk versus the seriousness of the thing.”

Neil Papiano, the Los Angeles attorney who has been representing the Nederlander and Ogden group, said too that the Clippers are not the only NBA franchise that might be interested in coming to a new arena in Anaheim.

“We’ve been talking with a number of groups, and the Clippers are only one of those,” Papiano said. “I don’t know what Mr. Sterling’s feelings are about moving, but there are other concepts and other teams available.”

Papiano said it is quite conceivable that a third NBA franchise, in addition to the Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers, could move into the area “because Orange County’s really a separate market.”

Arena ‘Fairly Certain’

The attorney added that regardless of whether any NBA franchise can immediately be obtained, in his view “it’s fairly certain there will be an arena built” in Anaheim.

“I can’t imagine that an arena in an area as attractive as Orange County would go unused for long,” he said.

Asked if the Clippers would be a desirable tenant, Papiano responded:

“It would be desirable to have an NBA team, and some teams are more desirable for various reasons, both from a gate attraction and a political standpoint, than others.”

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Joel Ralph, general manager of the Coliseum complex, which includes the Sports Arena, and Sports Arena General Manager Peter Luukko said they feel the Clippers have very good opportunities at the Sports Arena, where they have already greatly improved both their attendance and income as contrasted with past years.

“We don’t want to talk about the deal (we’re offering),” Ralph said. “We are in negotiations, and we don’t want to talk about them in the newspaper. But we feel that the offer here is much greater than Orange County’s.

“In terms of cable TV, broadcasting, signage (income from stadium advertising), the dollars are just going to be bigger in Los Angeles than they are going to be in Anaheim. And we’re prepared to bring this arena to state-of-the-art. It would compare with any arena, even a brand new one.”

Sterling was quoted in the Register as saying he felt a move to Orange County would create a financial windfall for his team, with soaring ticket prices, television and radio contracts and parking revenues.

But when contacted by The Times, he said he thought the revenues would be higher if he stayed in Los Angeles.

Another team official, who asked not to be identified, said he felt Sterling would choose to stay in Los Angeles.

‘A Los Angeles Guy’

“Donald’s a Los Angeles guy, first of all, and I think he has a very strong emotional attachment to this city,” he said.

Time factors would seem to indicate that the decision, in any event, will be made within the next three or four months, since an important component of the MCA-Spectacor offer on behalf of the Sports Arena is that the work, to boost the facility’s capacity to more than 18,000 and build luxury “sky boxes” and new locker rooms, will be completed by the start of next season.

If this is to be accomplished, the actual work would have to begin soon after the Clippers finish the present season, leaving little time for negotiating.

Both Papiano and Ralph suggested Friday that they would feel more comfortable if negotiations could proceed out of the limelight.

“Does (press) coverage help?” Ralph asked. “No. We would prefer to be negotiating in a vacuum, but this is the real world. People use leverage. We’re prepared to live with it.”

Sterling, however, challenged suggestions he is using leverage.